San Francisco-based Osterhout Design Group is offering a pair of slick looking augmented reality sunglasses for pre-order, though the company notes on its website “due to the substantial number of pre-orders we received since June, orders placed today will begin shipping early Q2 2016.” We haven’t gone eyes-in with the R-7 glasses yet but NASA is reportedly using them and the company’s CEO, Ralph Osterhout, reportedly has a long history developing a variety of gadgets for the military and James Bond movies alike. UploadVR is planning to check the glasses out next week.
The AR R-7 glasses cost $2,750 to pre-order, which is in the same range as Microsoft’s HoloLens at $3,000. As a side note, the Microsoft glasses are heading to the space station right now after the first attempt vaporized in a SpaceX explosion. Until we go eyes-in with the ODG glasses and report back, you’ll just have to gawk at these nice looking shades and ponder the specification sheet which reads like a wish list of smart glasses functionality.
Built on top of Android, the glasses are said to include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and a 1080P camera all powered by a 2.7 GHZ quad-core processor with 64 GB of storage. There’s a small trackpad and control buttons alongside a host of movement sensors as well as an altitude and humidity sensor. The see-through displays are said to refresh at 80 FPS with 720P per eye. There’s also two microphones and “magnetic stereo audio ports with ear buds”. The glasses include Qualcomm’s Vuforia software development kit.
The company is offering a 25 percent discount on up to two pairs “for qualified developers”. The glasses look like they can take a beating too, with replaceable nose bridges. We can’t wait to check them out and will report back what we see.
